Man indicted for murder in chase that killed Newark cop

A Cranbury man was indicted today on murder charges stemming from a car chase in March that led to the death of a Newark police sergeant.

William Rodriguez was slapped with 15 criminal counts -- including murder, felony murder and aggravated manslaughter -- in the death of Sgt. Tommaso Popolizio, whose vehicle flipped over during a chase on Doremus Avenue in Newark.

Rodriguez, 22, who lived in Cranbury before his arrest, crossed paths with Popolizio at 4 a.m. on March 3 as the defendant and others were drag racing on Doremus, a quiet industrial strip on the eastern edges of Newark. Popolizio, an East District supervisor who was one of several police officers who responded to the scene to break up the drag racing, pulled over Rodriguez' car and saw him toss a handgun out the window, police said.

The suspect was arrested and placed alone in a patrol car, but managed to get his handcuffs in front of him and slip through a partition between the front and back seats, according to police. He drove off with the police cruiser, and Popolizio gave chase in a marked SUV, which collided with the stolen cruiser and flipped over near the gates of the Essex County Jail, police said.

Popolizio, a 33-year-old father of four who came from a police family and earned numerous decorations in a dozen years on the job, was ejected from the SUV and died of massive head injuries.

The suspect was found shortly after the crash hiding in the tall grass off Doremus Avenue with no shoes and his hands still in cuffs.